1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a recording liquid excellent in thermal stability, particularly to a recording liquid (hereinafter called as "ink") which is suitable for use in the method in which recording is performed by discharging liquid droplets through a discharging outlet (orifice) by heat energy.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As inks to be generally used for writing implements such as felt pens, fountain pens, etc., solutions or dispersions of the various dyes or pigments in liquid mediums comprising water or other organic solvents are well known in the art. In the so-called ink jet recording system, wherein recording is performed by permitting the ink in a recording head to be discharged through a discharging orifice by vibration by means of a piezo-vibrator, electrostatic attraction by application of a high voltage or heat energy, and by the like it is also known to use those inks as mentioned above.
As an example of the general basic constitution of the ink for writing implements or ink jet recording, there may be mentioned a composition comprising as primary components the three of a water-soluble dye, water which is the solvent of said dye, and a glycol which is a drying preventing agent. As a water-soluble dye, it is preferred to use a direct dye, an acid dye or a basic dye for excellent fastness or tone. However, in many cases, these dyes contain inorganic salts such as sodium chloride, sodium sulfate, and the like, which are by-produced during synthesis of dyes or added as salting-out agents, diluting agents or levelling agents. Besides, some of these dyes are synthesized from m-phenylenediamine as starting material, and it is not possible to keep a part of the synthetic starting material away from remaining in the dye synthesized.
In the prior art, preparation of an ink by use of a dye containing such impurity has been encountered with such in-conveniences as mentioned below.
That is, most of the above impurities have been the causes for clogging of the capillaries of writing implements or of orifices of ink jet device by lowering the dissolving stability of the dyes in inks thereby to form agglomeration or precipitation of dyes. According to the knowledge of the present inventors, above all, m-phenylendiamine lowered heat stability (namely, dissolving stability at high temperatures) of an ink. In other words, in case of the ink of prior art to be used in an ink jet recording system, especially in such system as disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 51837/1979 or German Patent Laid-open (DOLS) No. 2843064, wherein ink droplets are generated by heat energy, heating of ink will frequently cause deposition of insolubles from the ink on the surface at the heat acting portion within the ink jet head, thereby impairing the ink discharging function of the head.